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Tagua beads in diferent shapes. These craft beads are side drilled and they are very used for jewelry making especially necklaces, earrings and bracelets. Our premium beads do not discolor, neither stain the clothes or the skin. We use dyes toxic free on our premium beads, 100% guarantee! Measurements may vary. Made in Ecuador.

The Beginning of a beautiful piece or work, exotic ivory bead:

I'd like to take this opportunity to let you people know what the real process to manufacture the wonderful tagua beads is... Shall begin!?

1.- Drying:

After the tagua seeds are collected we need to dry them. We can use 2 options. 1st option: sun-drying which takes approximately 60 days and is more desirable since it gives a better quality nut. 2nd option is to place the nuts in a dryer. This accelerates the process and it takes about a week. Quality is very good also, but sunlight is better.

2.- Peeling:

Using a peeling machine or a machete knife, we remove the skin of the tagua nuts. To remove any excess is used a small knife.

3.- Nut Selection:

The next step is to sort the seeds by size using sieves with different sized holes. This is very important to offer a wide variety of seed beads sizes.

4.- Cutting:

Then we use a saw-machine to cut the seeds into slices.

5.- Slice selection:

The slices are selected according to size. It should be noted that only the outer slices of the tagua are used for animelas (blank) manufacturing or also called tagua disks.

6.- Drilling:

We drill the chosen slices obtaining tagua blanks and eyelets.

7.- Blanks selection:

Blanks are chosen according to two types: rustic and standards. Standards can be divided into 5 levels from 1st white, 1st light cream, cream, second and third. These blanks are used for making beads but most of all are used for making buttons, which are the designer's choice to use with clothing.

8.- Shaping beads.-

Tagua is very versatile and almost everything is used to make beads for jewerly making.

Seeds, slices and blanks are transformed into bead crafts using an automatic machine, however many beads are handmade.

9.- Quality Control 1 .-

Once we have shaped the beads, we proceed to reject the parts showing defects and that do not meet quality standards. This process is manual, due to the many shapes and sizes we produce.

10.- Polishing:

To correct any sign of tools usage we place tagua beads into drum barrels filled with water and small ceramic parts and let it shake for a while. We then rinse and dry the beads.

11.- Dyeing:

To give the required color beads have to hydrate for a period of 12 hours and then shade is given using dyes and water. Once dyeing is completed, the beads are left to dry. We polish beads once dried. We use dyes toxic free on our premium beads, 100% guarantee!

12.- Polishing and Brightness:

After beads are completely dried, we place then into another drum barrel with small pieces of wood in order to give the finish customers want (polished, semi-gloss, matte, double finish).

13.- Quality Control 2 - Color Selection:

Before the beads are packed must pass through the color sorting machine to guarantee the uniformity of tone in the seed beads colors.

14.- Quality Control 3 - Imperfections Selection:

This quality control is done manually, where trained personal rejects any bead that does not meet our high quality standards. Any bead that presents imperfections such as cracks, color variations, breaks, or even the tiniest one will be rejected.

15.- Product Packaging:

Finally tagua beads are packed for distribution and marketing in differente beads store jewelry, bead shops, and so on, to then be transformed into beautiful artisan jewelry such as bracelets, earrings, necklaces and all kind of beaded artwork you can ever dream of.

16.- Product Stock Room:

Finally tagua beads are packed for distribution and marketing in differente beads store jewelry, bead shops, and so on, to then be transformed into beautiful artisan jewelry such as bracelets, earrings, necklaces and all kind of beaded artwork you can ever dream of.

17.- Finished Product:

Finally tagua beads are packed for distribution and marketing in differente beads store jewelry, bead shops, and so on, to then be transformed into beautiful artisan jewelry such as bracelets, earrings, necklaces and all kind of beaded artwork you can ever dream of.

18.- Laser engraving:

We can engrave with laser almost any artwork you want. Eco Ivory Tagua beads customized with the logo of your company, or a love message, etc., are the perfect souveniers for any ocassion. Contact us for more info

Well my friends, I really hope I have shared valuable information and contribute to answer some of your questions about this exotic ivory called tagua and how tagua beads are manufactured. ah, and please keep in mind that using ecofriendly beads we are helping to foster protect the world. Keep on beading! Cheers!

About Tagua

The origin of a beautiful and exotic piece of work: Tagua Beads!

You might ask what is Exotic Ivory? Well, let me tell you that in tropical and humid mountains of Ecuador there is a singular plant called Tagua, also called exotic ivory or vegetable ivory too. Wait a minute...! A tree plant called vegetable ivory!? Is that possible? Well, to give you an scientific explanation: Tagua because of its morphology looks like palms, but is not a botanically palmácea but belongs to the Ciclantáceas family.

Its scientific name is Phytelephas Aequatorialis. Etymologically from the Greek PhytelephasPhyton = plant and Elephas = ivory, ie plant ivory or vegetable ivory, or Tagua or Exotic Ivory. Wow, so many names for a palm tree:).

Tagua is remarkably similar to animal ivory in both looks and feel. Tagua is durable and easily carved, and it even mimics the porosity of animal ivory. The biggest difference: Elephant do not have to die.

(Did you know that previously turning into hard-rock eco ivory, tagua is a fruit that you can actually eat? Taste like coco.)

Well, I don't pretent to bore you, so let's skip this and go to the interesting part. The true is that this material is hard and looks like animal ivory, and it is completely natural. Therefore, we have ivory, but elephants don't have to die. How cool is that, ah?

Tagua is so versatile that we can use it to manufacture decorative figurines, Smoking Pipes, buttons for the fashion industry, and also beads for jewelry making, which is very suitable for women in different countries of the world.

Lowest Price Guaranteed

You might think our shipping is somewhat expensive, however this is Not true at all! Our shipping options are very economic plus, we offer:

Yes! Our minimum shipping rate is 0.5 kilos at $24.00. But it then increases in $6 per additional 0.5 kilo. The beads are delivered to your door. It offers online tracking service and the your package is insured.